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Document Details :

Title: Rabauwen op het rederijkerstoneel
Author(s): MOUWEN, Herbert
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 49    Issue: 1   Date: 2007   
Pages: 1-22
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.49.1.2023431

Abstract :
The drama of the rhetoricians contains six comical plays in which wandering beggars appear, named ‘rabauwen’. They always act as a pair and have humorous nicknames which reveal one or more characteristics of theirselves. Despite their mutual rivalry, they present themselves as an undivided pair to the outside world. Their language is coarse, using thieves’ flash words and expressions. They beg for bread and if that does not work, they steal food and drinks. There has been no research devoted to the ‘rabauwen’ as dramatic characters so far. In their struggle to survive, they use deception and exhibit several resemblances (formal and with respect to the contents) with the ‘sinnekens’ in the rhetorician drama. There are, however, three remarkable differences. In this article, I study the ‘rabauwen’ as dramatic characters. My main question is to determine to which extent the ‘spelen van sinne’ (which are well represented in the rhetorician dramas) have acted as a standard for the plays of the ‘rabauwen’.

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